It is quarter to seven and I am sitting in Cafe Hercules with my leg up, with no sweater on. It is like summer in Vancouver. My big toe needs to be surgically shortened. There is not a shoe in all of Spain the fits my foot. I don't know who or what to be pissed off at: my foot (the left one only), the people who make shoes, the shoe industry, my ancestors...
I was sort of fine after dancing today but the trying on of numerous shoes that push my big toe inwards has pushed my joint over the edge. Yesterday Senovilla called with the second pair of shoes made as close to measure as they will make them. Well, guess what... No, of course they don't. Then I discovered a different brand that all the girls with skinny feet can wear. Guess who they DON'T fit? What a surprise!
My feet have shrunk in length, but this still hasn't solved the problem.
Rafael Campallo is a force of nature. He is like pure energy; a compact ball of fire. It seems like he contains some kind of explosive energy which he can't suppress. I cannot imagine anything closer to perfection, as far as his precision - he has total control. He is someone everyone should see dance. Like everyone should see the Alhambra and the Tah Mahal. Fine, I am a little starstruck. Youtube does not do him justice at all. After he started to dance, I realised that it was him I'd seen years ago in Vancouver with Paco de Lucia. At least I am pretty sure. I didn't ask, in class today - I just danced.
The most complicated rhythms seem to just flow out as if with total ease, as he is playing with them, and sticking in other movements like witty remarks. His personality in normal life is light and easygoing, but twice during his performance, came a primal kind of shout, as I've seen others do at times, but never quite so wild. His singer and guitarist were genius as well. Like jazz, when an artist interprets a well known tune (and in this case verse) in a particularly new and original way, this is what makes both these types of art so impressive.
Susanne is to thank for getting me to go. I've hung out with her and some other students from Taller Flamenco, for a few nights. Taller is the flamenco school which caters to people who want to try out flamenco for the first time, for a week or so. Susanne is an awesomely hilarous and fun Australian, a mother with grown kids, but who isn't much older than me.
Also in this gang is Danvier, a British flamenco dancing headmaster of a London school, who explains Spanish men better than most women I've had the chance to talk to, and who wants to help find me a Spanish guy, despite my misgivings. Then there is Kathy, a woman probably my age, who is trying to settle here, and Ernesto, who uses an alias like me. Ernesto is a Korean guy who previously studied genetic engineering but switched to Spanish literature and now is based in Massechusets doing a masters in Anthropology. This I am very excited about, because he might be someone I can go with to flamenco pueblos like Utrera and Moron and others. That's because his thesis is going to be discussing flamenco culture. Ernesto also has an interest in flamenco guitar as he is a guitarist too.
My life is starting to come together - that is, provided my joint is going to be okay, and/or I can adjust some shoes to be useable somehow. I will be living with three lovely girls, classical music students who will serenade me in the house! A viola player, a clarinetist and a guitarist. It is closer to the river, which has a few trees and some grass sticking up into the line of sight. Just when I was starting to wonder about my goals here, being in Sevilla, and missing nature.
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